Thursday, May 18, 2017

Do you want to return to the state of nature? Do you miss
the pristine beauty and awe-inspiring innocence of the natural world?

Beginning
in the eighteenth century Romantic poets and philosophers have been touting the
virtues of the natural world. Environmentalists before their time they blame
human beings and especially human industry for all of the ills that have
befallen our accursed species. They especially blame free market capitalism.
But, you know the drill.

Now, the city of Rome has taken it all just a little too
literally. Led by its first woman mayor, Virginia Raggi the city has ceased
picking up the trash. Considering that it’s a major part of the mayor’s job, we
cannot count Raggi as a great success.

With garbage piling up all over Rome the city is returning
to a time before Caesar, a time before the Roman Empire. It is returning to its
pristine and beautiful natural state.

In
March, a 49-year-old man was killed when his scooter crashed into a hungry boar
prowling the city’s streets. Last month a family of boar invaded an elementary
school’s garden hunting for food. And a massive boar was recently caught on
video running in traffic near the Vatican.

Italy’s
boar population has rocketed to an estimated 1 million after a bigger,
fast-breeding type was imported from Eastern Europe in recent years for
hunting. A boar can now fetch 500 euros (about $550) on the open market.

But the
downside of the population explosion of these omnivores is becoming obvious, as
they spend more time in the metropolis in search of ways to sate their
rapacious appetite.

Garbage and waste 'management' is vastly corrupted by Maffia an 'Ndrangheta in Italy, a situation that mayor Raggi inherited. Problems with garbage collection and disposal have been getting worse since ages. People have been bitten by rats too, all before Virginia Raggi became mayor.

Meanwhile, the streets are cleaner.La Stampa reports on May 14: http://www.lastampa.it/2017/05/14/economia/roma-raggi-prigioniera-dei-rifiuti-cos-i-grillini-bocciano-gli-impianti-RbchObX0BT4yhfBL5kvGBP/pagina.html

"As expected, the streets of Rome are cleaner. Comune and Ama, the Campidoglio company that manages the service, have deployed 1,800 vehicles and 4,000 busy staff 24 hours a day, spending for overtime a number that sources connected with the works estimate at 2 million euros. This does not mean that the emergency is forgotten. The systems are under stress: to tilt system, one small fault will be enough, or a shutdown because of maintenance."

Anonymous at 9:26 AM, thanks for the update. I did find that Virginia Raggi was just elected last summer and in a new political party. Politics is messy.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Raggihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Star_Movement